Johann Jakob Wirz

Johann Jakob Wirz (1778 in Basel – 1858) was a Swiss silkweaver who became known a Theosophist prophet and started a group called the Nazarenes, or in German Nazarener. His divine inspiration began around the end of 1823, and he soon gathered a small group, called the Nazarenes around him.[1]

His works were published after his death as Jacob Wirz, Ein Zeugnis der Nazarener-Gemeinde von der Entwickelung des Reiches Gottes auf Erden (Barmen, 1862); this was followed by Briefe, letters in three volumes, (Barmen, 1863/1873).[2]

It is not clear if this group has a direct connection to Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich (1803–1857) who was one of the founders of the German Nazarener movement which survives today only as the Nazarene Church in Romania with around 1,000 members.[3][4] One theory has it that when the nineteen-year-old blacksmith Lajos Hencsey (1814-1844) came to Switzerland he met the disciples of Wirz and adopted their name instead of other numerous names circulating for Fröhlich's followers.[5]

References
  1. Arthur Versluis Magic and mysticism: an introduction to Western esotericism 2007 - Page 112 "... but there are some noteworthy others, including Johann Jakob Wirz (1778-1858 ), one of the most accessible and charming ... His divine inspiration began around the end of 1 823, and he soon gathered a small group, called the Nazarene "
  2. Ernst Staehlin, Der Baster Seidenweber Johann Jacob Wirz als Hellseher und ...
  3. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck - 1910 "For Nazarene as applied to Jesus Christ and his disciples see Nazareth. 1. Adherents of Jacob Wirz, a silk-weaver ... with Frohlich and his adherents in Thurgau or near Strasburg, brought this type of Christianity to their native land."
  4. Kirchen und Sekten: Führer durch die religiösen Gruppen der Gegenwart Fritz Blanke - 1959 "Neutäufer (Gemeinschaft evangelisch Taufgesinnter, Fröhlichianer, Nazarener, nicht mit den Nazarenern des J.J. Wirz zu verwechseln) Von dem aargauischen Pfarrer Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich-Brunn- schweiler 1830 gegründet."
  5. Religious dissent between the modern and the national: Nazarenes p55 Bojan Aleksov - 2006 "According to this theory, when Hencsey came to Switzerland he met the disciples of Wirz and adopted their name instead of other numerous names circulating for Frohlich's followers."
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